indie-only red vinyl version - On her lush and captivating third album, the pop star looks to the heavens, summoning the cosmic power of love and the divine feminine.
Red Moon in Venus luxuriates in the most sublime sounds of Uchis’ career. It’s a fantastical record, illustrating lush, lovesick vignettes and high-femme escapism without relinquishing control. Chirping birds, blooming flowers, and professions of love pepper “In My Garden” and lead single “I Wish you Roses,” two tender devotionals that set the album’s faithful vision of love ablaze. The album’s first half progresses like the early stages of a relationship: endless, saccharine, all-consuming. “Wanna spoil me in every way/It’s Valentine’s like every day,” she sings at the top of the pop-funk highlight “Endlessly.” Rose-tinted glasses? On. But only for a while.
Even at the album’s most picturesque, Uchis never loses her grip on reality, intent on exploring despair with equal intensity. “Fantasy,” featuring R&B star and Uchis’ romantic partner Don Toliver, is an Afropop dance number that ends the infatuation seen in the first half of the record. The song explores love at its most sensual and carefree: “On my body/Don’t let go of me/I just want the fantasy,” Uchis begs. But then she abruptly interrupts: “That’s it, that’s the end of the song—come on baby, let’s go home,” declaring the honeymoon phase over. R&B kiss-off “Deserve Me” is grounded by the realization that it’s better to be alone than to remain in a toxic situation. The undulating, Tame Impala-esque psychedelia of “Moral Conscience” rests on a wise and scornful foretelling: “When you’re all alone/You’ll know you were wrong.” Uchis maintains her sultry alto composure throughout, allowing the idyllic production to support what should be moments of deep rage. She’s cool and collected because she knows a better love awaits.
| A1 | In My Garden... |
| A2 | I Wish You Roses |
| A3 | Worth The Wait |
| A4 | Love Between... |
| A5 | All Mine |
| A6 | Fantasy |
| A7 | Como Te Quiero Yo |
| A8 | Hasta Cuando |
| B1 | Endlessly |
| B2 | Moral Conscience |
| B3 | Not Too Late (Interlude) |
| B4 | Blue |
| B5 | Deserve Me |
| B6 | Moonlight |
| B7 | Happy Now |
